As for the rest, well, I'm hardly one to talk about de-cluttering considering I just bought a 25" 1080p LCD (on sale, basically a smallish 1080p TV with a VGA as well as HDMI port), and my old 20" 1680x1050 LCD on the same desk, with a 5.1 headset cable crawling up from behind for gaming and a set of stereo speakers for when I don't want to use the headset for any hardcore gaming.

Now...if I can just do what you did to my virtual files, I'd be in heaven. I just need to sit down and take the time to go through my several thousand pictures I've taken since getting my dSLR. Man, RAW files are so BIG! I'm so running out of space. Anyway, I digress.

I never bothered with virtual desktops before with multiple monitors, it seemed pointless. So far I'm finding that Spaces is slick, but buggy, it's not always clear how an app is going to to behave wrt a space.

I embrace the clutter. If there are few items on my desk, I focus on them. If there are too many, it all blends together and it's not a distraction. I have occaisionally cleaned it, but it doesn't last, so I don't generally bother any more.

Just before xmas I gave up my dual 1280x1024 CRTs of many many years and sprung for a lone 2560x1600 LCD. One display, but more pixels. Part of me misses the easy "move app right and maximize" especially as I take the time to tile applications. Overall, I think I like it. 1280 wasn't really wide enough, and 1600 tall is awesome. It does, unfortunately, let my cluttered desktop run even more rampant.

Cable management I don't worry too much about. I need enough twist ties to keep them out of the way, but that's it. I've stretched my legs and launched a speaker more often than I'd like.

Me desk is a godawful disaster. I have 2 printers, my laptop, keyboard, mouse, my pet salamanders tank, a kleenex box, several dozen game boxes and god knows what else on it. It's madness, and not in a good way. I need to do the same thing you are In my file cabinet drawer I have god alone knows how many IDE and sata cables, as well as a spare modem and sound card. There's also some strange plastic things I don't know what they are. Given that in most of my life I'm tidy, this is really bugging the piss out of me.

In my file cabinet drawer I have god alone knows how many IDE and sata cables, as well as a spare modem and sound card.

Suggestion: round up ALL of your spare hardware (every last cable and PCI filler plate) and bring it all to a new sorting area such as a garage space, living room, kitchen, whatever. Take it away from where it is currently stored.

Now sort through it with new eyes and get rid of all your old legacy stuff that you haven't touched in five years. Give it to a friend, donate it to a school or nonprofit, but get it out of your way. Put it all in boxes and move them to a corner, preferably near an exterior door.

Now make a wish list of what you'd like your dream computer/electronics setup would look like. Go through the Ars system-building articles if that helps. Now scrutinize whatever hardware you have left and see if it fits at all in your future plans. Do you still have old 10/100 Ethernet hubs yet want to run GigE exclusively in the future? Move those hubs to the pile near the door. Still have an old USB-1 hub? It's worth about fifty cents at a garage sale now. Do this until you've pared down everything to stuff you actually want to use in the future. Put it all back in boxes, a little better organized this time, and put it back on the shelves if you have them. (Step 1.1, omitted earlier: Buy more shelves!)

Only by physically moving everything away from its current inertia well can you really sort efficiently and a bit more ruthlessly. It will also give you a chance to vacuum up seven years of accumulated dust. Do this, and then set yourself a reminder for five years from now to do it all over again.

Now sort through it with new eyes and get rid of all your old legacy stuff that you haven't touched in five years. Give it to a friend, donate it to a school or nonprofit, but get it out of your way. Put it all in boxes and move them to a corner, preferably near an exterior door.

You never know when you are going to need to get back information on that old 5 1/4 inch floppy. I was delighted when I found out the Z80 emulator I had (for the ZX Spectrum) would actually read floppy disks from the floppy expansion cards that were available for the spectrum. Of course, that was a decade ago and I haven't had a PC with a 5.25 inch floppy drive since.

Emulation does resolve most of the issues I personally have with chucking old hardware out but inevitably I end up putting stuff in the garage just in case I ever need it.

It did come in useful when I had to upgrade an old laptop - pre USB old anyway. My old Zip drive allowed me to upgrade it relatively easily.

Everything is still sitting on my geek-classic Jerker desk, but for a minimal setup it's too deep, I just know I'm going to pile paperwork on the back of it.

I usually have my monitor a bit further back than that. As pictured, it seems like it would be awfully close to the user.

Can you move the shelf containing the speakers up a notch, to allow you to push the monitor back a bit? That will take care of the "empty space in the back" issue, and will also give you more clear desk space to work with up front.

I usually have my monitor a bit further back than that. As pictured, it seems like it would be awfully close to the user.

Can you move the shelf containing the speakers up a notch, to allow you to push the monitor back a bit? That will take care of the "empty space in the back" issue, and will also give you more clear desk space to work with up front.

Yeah, it's not right yet. Honestly I think I just need a wider desk, lose the shelf, and bring the speakers down to desk level with the machine moved back. I've shifted it back a few inches that I had since that photo was taken and it's helped.

When it comes to saving old equipment and cables I think you gotta be ruthless. My cable bin is overflowing now, I'm going to through it and pare it down so it all fits again. Be honest, you don't need most of it, and if you do ever find a need then just hit Monoprice or something. Needing an old cable as an 'emergency' is even more unlikely than needing it at all.

Yes, I would move the monitor back some. I moved my iMac 20" back so far on my desk I cannot reach it with my outstretched hand. It may seem like too far but, my vision has improved a lot since I did it. Went from -3.75 in each eye to -2.75. My eyes haven't changed that much since elementary school.-Carrie

I never bothered with virtual desktops before with multiple monitors, it seemed pointless.

I find that they are an excellent way to solve exactly the problem you were describing with distractions. They allow you bundle up groups of applications into 'task spaces' each with their own focus.

This lets you get them completely out of your visual space, with not even a tempting taskbar entry* or window hiding in the background. But also allows instant switching back to them with full state, unlike if they were closed and restarted.

I'm running dual 1600x1200 monitors, and I get claustrophobic just thinking about squashing everything back down to one desktop.

* Assuming the virtual desktop implementation is anything like any of the ones I've used on Windows or Linux.

Edit: Thread Necromancy! Clearly the Ars staff needs to write more in the staff section and keep old entries from showing up on the list ;-)